Holly

Holly is a small, dense pocket on the eastern edge of downtown, tucked between East Cesar Chavez and Lady Bird Lake, built up around early-1900s bungalows on tight lots. It's named for the old Holly Street Power Plant, which ran along the lake for decades and was finally decommissioned after years of work from the neighborhood and environmental justice advocates — the land it sat on is now parkland connecting the neighborhood directly to the water. That lake access is a big part of what defines daily life here: you're a short walk from the Ann and Roy Butler hike-and-bike trail, Festival Beach, and Fiesta Gardens. Time Out once named Holly one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world, and while that's the kind of accolade we'd usually roll our eyes at, the appeal is real — it's genuinely walkable, genuinely diverse, and close enough to downtown to feel urban without sitting inside the noise.

The food here is the draw for a lot of people. Juan in a Million has served Mexican breakfast and lunch since 1980 and is still family-run — the Don Juan taco is the order. With a surge growth in the early 2010's, favorites like Launderette, Bufalina, and la Barbecue (just at the edge) have become staples. For coffee, Gati cafe sits right on Holly St — a cafe offering vegan and gluten free pastries, along with coconut-milk ice cream.